Does anyone have a checklist for things you need to do to be type-B?

I am type-A.  Hyper type-A.  Trying to be type-B is difficult.  I cling to lists, schedules, budgets and plans.  Life somehow has a funny way of making all of the above go awry though.  For those situations, God invented frozen yogurt and a cozy bed.  And in the mean time I would like to report that I successfully made it through an off-schedule day.  One of the many unscheduled events was a going away party for one of my students.  This student will truly be missed.  Why?
Reason 1:
This student wrote me a letter every day talking about how he liked me, how he liked being in my class, etc.  Adorable letters, really, and sometimes even cartoons.  Then, one day he got in an argument with one of his classmates and I handled their argument with a "Welp, you're a big boy, work it out!"  He didn't like my answer.  So, his letter the next day?  Dear Ms. A, today I am not writing you a letter because I am mad.  Love, Me.  Classic.  (Fear not, after this not-letter letter? He continued with nice letters, although the not-letter letter DID make me chuckle).
Reason 2:
This student had the most enthusiastic attitude of any 7 year old I have EVER met.  He would come in to sharpen pencils at the beginning of the day and rattle off all of the day's occurrences.  He would talk for 20 minutes and I am not even sure he ever stopped to talk a breath.
Reason 3:
Today, during his going away party, he asked to share 2 magic tricks with the class.  Neither worked, but both were attempted multiple times with a final concession that magic works better at home.
So? Buh-bye, my little ray of sunshine! You will be missed! 

I am still in the hunt for the next baking project, but I feel it might be a cooking project.  I, the vegetarian, will be hosting a carnivore for a few weeks and I feel that my adventures into the world of cooking meat will be documentable to say the least.  I have begun my mad clipping of recipe after recipe and even have this new cool addiction otherwise known as Pinterest to aide in this adventure.  We will see how it goes...  You never know, I may end up sleep walking and try to free the chicken tenders from the fridge in my sleep.  Ok, probably not because that has nothing to do with why I am a vegetablearian, but it is going to be bloggable.  So I guess I should get one of those bumper stickers and just tweak it a little bit to make it say: for every chicken I don't eat, I'll cook 3?  Yup, sounds about right.

In honor of all you carnivores out there.  I will finish with a joke (y'all know I love my cheese).
Q: What do you call a cow with no legs?
A: Ground beef!
Ha... ha... ha...

Peace, y'all!

Some people are type A, others are type B, I think I'm type LMNOP...

My Friday began innocently enough.  A great plan in store for my kiddos, after 3 days of testing, it was time for a well-deserved celebration.  The plan? Bead-making out of magazines for necklaces we are going to sell at our school cultural community event, a donut party and the wonderful finishing touch of a movie. Lovely plan, no?  So we begin with bead-making, but I quickly remember two things.  1.) I am a perfectionist. 2.) My second-graders are not manufactured bead making machines, but second graders.  Bead making created approximately 1,000 beads. Woohoo! Post bead making created approximately 6 hours of me, checking each bead for usability, re-rolling and re-gluing.  Joy. In the process, I came to this conclusion: I am type LMNOP.  A type LMNOP person not only is a perfectionist, much like a type A person, but tries to be a master in everything.  Extracurricular activity lists exceed 20, hours of sleep rarely exceed 6.  Type LMNOP people do not just dabble in a little of this and a little of that but try to be 6 people in one.  Currently I bake, cook, salsa dance, zumba, bike, hike, am a gym rat, read, plan weddings, paint canvases, paint pottery, teach, go to church, and bible study.  This is me.  Type LMNOP.  These are my beads. My wake up call. I need an intervention.

(If beads could talk, they would be yelping, "Help her! Help her!)

In related news, the beads do rock, however, they will be made into necklaces by my kiddos, AND they will be sold. This Thursday. At the escuela.  Rock!  Loooove when kids get to make a difference.  Its my favorite.

Just like this chip cookie:

The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle: Chips and Salsa Cookies {Tutorial}

Peace, Love, and Let-it-go!

This story has potential punch line of a kids knock knock joke but you get to hear it anyways

My kids yesterday said, "Ms. A, Ms. A we have a joke for you! Knock Knock."  To that I of course replied "who's there."  "Peanut butter." "Peanut butter who" "Stop eating me!"  Thats it.  I waited for more, for a clever kick at the end but...nada. Not that it mattered though. Regardless, each time a kid tells you knock knock you always say, "who's there" even though you know it will be another lame joke that only 8 year olds find humor in.  I'm okay with that, because every once in a while along comes that funny one; the one that results in a laughter that bubbles up from the inside and flows out at an embarrassingly loud volume.  The result is unpredictable but each laugh I have experienced is irreplaceable.  I am grateful for invitations to laugh as these.  I love the simple joys and blessings of a note of being the best teacher in the universe (even when there has never been a contest, rubric, or meeting of each teacher in the universe by the student handing me such an award), a smile when I greet them in the morning and my little jumping beans hopping up and down upon my sight or the sweet words of people I love.

From the heart of a girl who loves to carry the wait of the world on her shoulders (as if she has much to do with their resolutions anyways) I wanted to have a little cheeze-o moment and share a few of my favorite things. Even though its not raining and we cant all fit on one bed with our pillows...here it is.  A few of my favorite things (in no particular order):

Smiles

Piling my face with laundry right after it comes out of the dryer

Dancing when no one is watching
Apples, celery, carrots and all other things a rabbit might consume

My students

Mochas
Baby Mama
Delicioso with Ingrid Haufman

Looking down from the summit of a mountain you just hiked up

Zumba

Singing at the top of my lungs

Sharing food with friends and family
Spanish

Bad knock knock jokes
Salsa

Dark chocolate
Blasting songs with the windows rolled down, sun shining, 82.3 degrees
107 2nd graders singing your rap at the top of their lungs
Exercising while watching The Last Cake Standing (it makes me feel rebellious)
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Good Book
God
Uninhibited worship

Somedays just need a little reminder of those sweet things of life. This is one of those days. A day to relish in all things favorite.  A day to have a jammin song like Forget You on repeat and rock out.

Peace, love and jam, y'all.

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Mermaid

So I got home from a crazy day at work.    Post crazy day at work, the first thing I did when I got home was take a deliciously hot shower.  It made me decide that I want to be a mermaid when I grow up.  I just love showers.  Showers make the world a better place.  Why am I thinking today of what I want to be when I grow up? Consequently it was also career day.  All the kids dressed up as what they wanted to be when they grow up.  I came dressed as a baker.  I am not going to lie, that would be a good option for me if I ever fail at this educating-the-future-of-America business.

Here is why:

Cupcakes do not talk back.

Today, I like the sound of that.

So then I tried to think of other reasons why this might be a better option, but I think small children win.  I mean, sure you can change cupcake flavors depending on your mood and even match the wrappers according to the festivity they are being baked for, or even start your own t.v. show all about your cupcake-age but small children ROCK!

Here is why:

They are spunky.
They joke about everything (currently my kids are all talking to each other like Animal from the Muppets).
They see the world in the most unique ways.
They add spice to each and every day.

O.K., so today kids win.  Cupcakes and small children can duke it out again on career day next year.  For now?  I think I'll stick to my day job.

Plus, they can rock songs like this and make their teachers ball their eyes out.  Cupcakes can't do that...

Keeping it real in the 303... Me!

Call me crazy...

I am recording this  moment for when I need a good laugh.  THIS is why I love my job.
After a long day of herding cattle (a.k.a. taking my 2nd graders to the museum) we were on the bus and this conversation occurred between me and two students (we'll call them G and B)

G:  Hey Ms. A, do you loooove apples?
Me: You know I do.
G: So why don't you marry them?
Me: Ok.  I will.  Saturday.  In fact when I come to school on Monday, you'll have to start calling me Mrs. Apple.
B:  Ms. A that would be weird.  You watch a movie together and ______ (B makes pretends to be an apple completely motionless with a goofy face) , at dinner ______ (makes the face again), when the baby is born ______ (makes face again).
We all are cracking up.  B proceeds to share countless ways an apple could be a boring husband.
B: Ms. A, I'm not sure an apple will make a good husband.
G:  So, Ms. A, do you looooove carrots?
Me: You know I do.
G: So why don't you marry them?
Me: I can't.
G: Why not?
Me:  Cause I'm marrying the apple.
G: Oh.

And this is why I love teaching.  In no other profession could this conversation ever take place.

A collection of things

Someday I would like to start a museum of all the strange things we get as teachers.  Precious treasures our students feel we cannot live with out.

This year has been full of my ever-growing Sponge Bob sticker collection, an insurmountable amount of gum (odd choice but hey...), 3 apples, Halloween candy, clay figures, pictures, letters, coloring pages, a handful of sunflower seeds left on my desk, a unicorn stuffed animal, and a promise of a lifetime supply of coffee for my birthday (too bad that's in the summer...).

My pockets have also come home laden with goodies.  I have confiscated more silly bands than I even want to count (between those and the rubber bands I am sure I could have the ever-so-fashionable bracelets up my entire forearm), toy cars, a sucker, bouncy ball, and silly band rings (seriously RINGS?? what have teachers ever done to anyone to deserve such cruelty?  When necklaces come out...someone is going down!).

Along side all of the treasures displayed and continuing to grow, soon to over take my desk, is the most beautiful collection of things.  As a school, we have been collecting books to give to a school in Kenya with a library that is virtually non-existent.  As books began to trickle in, and we selected books from our own library we wanted to share with the world, my students overwhelmed me with their hearts.  Books pile and pile and not merely with old books but with favorites.  The very books they treasure are the ones they are giving.  Giving not out of access but compassion.  It is a truly beautiful sight to see.  It is said, "out of the mouths of babes"  but today I one-up that to "out of the hearts."